Trapped With A Tail
by StarofCalamity
Summary: What will happen when the girls are stuck as mermaids forever? How will they cope?
1. Changing

Cleo looked up from where she was sitting in the Biology classroom at school, and sighed. Five minutes left of the lesson, and then she could go for a swim with Emma and Rikki. Tapping her pencil off the desk she copied the questions off the board and put away her notebook. The bell rang and she ran out of the classroom eager to to get to Mako. She ran down to the beach and waited for Emma and Rikki. Just as she dove into the water, Lewis ran up to her and shouted.  
"Cleo, don't get in the water! There's going to be a shooting star, but this one's different. If any mermaid is in the water today then they will be stuck as a mermaid. Forever." "Oh Lewis!" Cleo tried and kicked towards the shore, but as she was ten metres out her tail appeared before she could reach the beach. Lewis reached out to pull her in but he was too late. The comet appeared overhead just as she was getting near the sand. She burst into tears, terrified that she was stuck as a mermaid. Lewis saw Emma and Rikki approaching the water next to him and he grabbed them. He told the pair all about what would happen if they were in the water in the next day. Now they were all crying, terrified for Cleo.

Lewis looked around to check if anyone else was there and they were alone so he dragged Cleo onto the sand. Rikki began to use her powers to try and save Cleo but nothing happened. Cleo really was trapped as a mermaid.

Soon Cleo began to feel dizzy. She could barely talk and a minute later, she collapsed unconcious. Everyone exchanged glances - Cleo could not breathe out of water anymore! Lewis pulled her back into the waves. Cleo was revived almost immediatly. She sat up and looked confused, and then it dawned on her.

"Emma - what can I do? All by myself..." Cleo cried, swimming up to the beach and grabbing hold of Rikki with her wet hand.  
"Cleo! Don't!" Lewis begged, realising that if Rikki didn't dry off, then she would be a mermaid forever too. Emma rubbed at her hand desperately but it was too late. In seconds she was on the ground as well.  
She crawled into the water and looked up at Emma. Emma was so shocked she didn't see the water touch her foot until it was too late.

Lewis groaned and stared at the three mermaids in front of him. "I'm so sorry... It's irreversible. You're trapped in the water." he whispered.  
Emma shook her head. "I can try", she said as she crawled out of the water. The others didn't even try to leave the water. Emma grabbed hold of Lewis' arm and managed to pull herself up on her tail.  
Lewis looked on in shock as Emma managed to walk a few metres before collapsing into the water. "Lewis, help me up again" Emma begged. He grabbed her arm and pulled her up. She sat down on a rock and sighed.  
"Lewis, what do we do? How am I ever going to see my family again?"  
"You'll just have to tell them the truth. I'll bring all your families to Mako and you can all tell them"  
"Lewis, maybe it's not permanant."  
He shook his head. "It happened 100 years ago, I saw the reports."  
"Go and get my parents and Elliot. Bring them to Mako, I'll tell them now."  
"Go, get my dad and Kim." "Go get my dad"

Finally, the families were going to find out their secret.

*

The trio resurfaced in Mako. An hour later Emma's family arrived, guided by Lewis. They had had to take the long trek through the forest to reach here. Trembling Rikki tried to pull herself out the water like Emma had done before but couldn't. Cleo didn't even bother trying.  
"Why are you all here?" Elliot whispered, Emma frowned.  
Then she whispered "Come here Elliot" and he walked up to the edge of the moon pool. "Promise we are family. Promise..." Emma mouthed and he nodded puzzled. Emma made her parents do the same and then she grabbed Elliot's hand and then she pushed herself up onto the rock ledge.  
There were gasps as they looked at Emma and saw a girl so different from they expected. A mermaid girl. Elliot laughed.  
"You're joking Emma aren't you?" he said and she sighed. "I'm not joking Elliot,how can I prove it to you?" " Touch the scales Elliot, touch the scales."  
He cried out as he realised that his sister really was a mermaid. "Emma, come home please"  
"How can I Elliot when this has happened, what am I supposed to do - live in the bath?" she smiled.  
"Please Em, for me, your brother" but she shook her head.

The other mermaids had equally emotional reunions and goodbyes, and the worst thing was that they knew that they probably wouldn't see their family in a long time.

Over the next few months the mermaids got used to what was happening. They stayed at Mako and every month one of them ended up possessed by the full moon. They were lonely.  
Soon Cleo couldn't cope. "Em,Rikki. You know if we give ourselves up and tell the newspapers or something, yeah we would be in a zoo but maybe they can cure this. Anything beats a lifetime here, right?"  
They all thought about it and agreed. They knew from Lewis, that a massive police search had been out for them. Now they could tell the truth.

Trembling with nerves they all swam to the beach.  
"It's now or never," Rikki whispered and crawled out of the water. When she left the water, she couldn't breathe properly so she hoped that someone found them soon. Next came Cleo, then Emma. They all lay there on the beach,  
waiting for someone to find them. Just when their vision was turning black they saw someone approaching them. It was a young woman who screamed then took out her phone and called for an ambulance, and the police.  
"Who are you?" she whispered, not expecting the mermaids to understand.  
"I'm Rikki, they're Emma and Cleo..." "Are you mermaids?" "One of a kind, yeah"  
"Am I dreaming?"  
"No... is this twenty questions? Do you want me to pinch you?" The woman laughed then looked worried.  
"What will happen to you now?" she whispered.  
"Probably a zoo... Oh well. Won't be so lonely there anyway"  
"I'm sorry. How can you be a mermaid, I mean you sound just like anyone else..."  
"I'm no differrent inside."

The ambulance appeared and were amazed to see three mermaids lying on the beach, the woman who had made the call gone. The ambulance people loaded them into the ambulance and drove to the Aquapark. As soon as they got into the ambulance their eyes all closed.  
* Cleo woke with a start and found herself in a glass tank. She was about to scream for help when she realised why she was there- she was a mermaid.  
A woman with long black hair, the aquapark's manager leaned forward towards the tank and smiled. Cleo surfaced to listen to her.  
"You're a mermaid! Can you understand me?" the manager said, speaking reallly slowly.  
Cleo went underwater for another breathe then came back up. She decided not to talk yet and instead pretended to look puzzled.  
"Do you come from around here?" to which Cleo pretended to look even more confused. With each question the woman asked Cleo would pretend not to understand.  
Then the woman asked a question which made Cleo feel like she had to answer.  
"How do you feel about being a mermaid?" Cleo swam up to the surface and spoke as loudly as she could, "I haven't always been like this. Once I was like you. And then..."

As Cleo explained to the woman, over the next few days, she felt releaved of a great pressure. But still - she was trapped.  
Now in just a tank - had she done the right thing? 


	2. Revealing

The woman had been fired; for not revealing whether the mermaid could speak or not. Of course, Cleo did not know that.

In fact, all the staff thought Cleo did not understand them, and she was treated like a circus clown. One day she was roughly pushed out of the tank into the outdoor seal pool. Cleo understood immediatly - she was going to be in a show! Publicly laughed at. Cleo sighed, sometimes she didn't know whether she had done the right thing.

Soon Emma and Rikki were shoved into the pool as well. They all hid underwater and watched as the seats around the pool filled up. Emma looked up to see Lewis sitting in the front row, Kim and Elliot next to him. Emma quickly lifted her head above the surface and smiled at Elliot before ducking back underwater.

Cleo turned around and saw a poster above on the poolside. "Real Mermaids - Meet The Myths! "

"Em,Rikki! Look at that!"

They all gasped as they looked at the poster.

Suddenly there was a massive noice around them and the mermaids looked up.

"I'll go up! You two stay underwater!" Emma whispered bossily, but unlike normally, Rikki did not protest.

Emma surfaced and Elliot whimpered. She raised a finger to his lips and sat on a rock. She felt so intimidated and just looked at the water.

_Come to the sea. Come to the sea. Come to the waves. Come to the sea. Come to the waves._

Emma felt this strange thought pulsing through her mind over and over again but pushed to overcome it. She heard the tour guide shouting to the crowd. " We have taught this mermaid how to speak English, watch!" the tour guide said.

"What is your name?" the tour guide asked her as the crowd looked on in fasination.

_Answer him! Answer him!_

Emma shook her head slightly and stared at the stands.

She ducked underwater for a breathe and then came back up,trembling.

"Why don't you let this mermaid go home to the sea!" she heard Lewish shout.

"Well, this is perfectly humane. It is like any other aqua park."

"Please help me" Emma whispered and dived underwater again. It was too much.

**A/N Sorry this is short and for not updating! Will update soon.**


	3. Forgiving

Lewis looked at the mermaid's trapped in the pool and sighed - how could he help them if they couldn't live above water anymore? Then he had an idea: aqua parks sell their exhibits...

When the show was over and everyone else had left, Lewis looked at the tour guide and ran up to him.

"Hi, are these reallly mermaids?" he said, feigning dumbness.

"Yeah."  
"How much would it cost for you to sell them?"

"Well.... normally we don't sell our exhibits and they're special, we would need to know they'd have a good home"

"How about I come back tonight, and we can work out a price?"

"Ok...." the tour guide said, confused.

Lewis walked out of the Seaworld with Elliot and Kim - he had someone to see.

The only person who could save the girls.

*

Cleo looked up to see Lewis just leaving, he hadn't even barely looked at her.

Emma dived back under the water and sat on the bottom of the pool.

"Cleo, he'll save us soon, he must have a plan."

"Or maybe he's forgotten us..." whispered Cleo silently.

Soon there was a thump and the trio surfaced. They saw a woman wearing a diving suit in the pool, which was 5 metres deep. They hadn't noticed it before but there were viewing panels at the walls of the pool so people could always see them.

The woman in the diving suit pointed up at the surface and obiediently the trio surfaced, but not before Emma quickly whispering, "Don't talk."

The mermaids, were now short of breath, as they couldn't breathe above water.

"Can you understand me?" the woman asked.

Emma gave a curt nod.

"Can you speak?"

Rikki shook her head and the woman groaned.

"Where do you come from?"

They all pretended to look confused.

"Are you really mermaids?"

Cleo dived underwater, ignoring the last question, followed by Rikki. Emma however stayed at the surface.

"Would you all like to go somewhere else? There is a man who wants to take you to his mueseum...."

Emma nodded. Anything to get away from here.

"He's called...." the woman said, but Emma dived underwater before hearing the rest.

**A/N Guess who the person is! It's not Lewis...**


	4. Realisation

An hour or so later the three mermaids had been placed in a portable tank, inside a lorry. They all stared at Emma angrily - maybe the mueseum would be worse than the aqua park.

Suddenly the lorry drove away, with a lurch, and the mermaids crashed into the side of the tank.

"I'm so scared" Cleo whispered. Emma and Rikki just stared at the side of the tank, seemingly frozen with shock.

Almost as soon as the van had started, it stopped. The back of the lorry was opened, revealing Lewis standing at the door.

The mermaids heart's sank - had Lewis betrayed them?

He put his finger to his lips and started to talk to someone hidden from view.

The tank was pulled down from the van and somehow the mermaids were pulled into a swimming pool. Standing by the swimming pool was Zane.

"I'm sorry guys but it was the only way to save you" Lewis said.

"What do you mean?" Cleo asked.

"Zane. He paid fifty thousand dollars to free you."

"Oh my.... thank you Zane" sniffed Cleo.

Lewis gulped and sat down by the pool.

"Where are we?" Emma mouthed and Lewis turned towards the building behind them.

"Your house Emma"

Emma saw the building and realised that it really was her house!

"Why did you bring us here, not the sea?"

"Well, I thought you might want to be home. That and there are paparrazi sitting in boats all along the coast looking for mermaids... I have something important I need to tell you."

Elliot walked out of the house and over to the pool. "Emma!" He smiled and looked at his sister like he couldn't believe it was her. Emma tried to push herself up onto the poolside but found it almost impossible. The second she got up onto the side the air seemed to thin and she clutched her head.

"What's happening Lewis?" she moaned.

"That's what I have to tell you. Your becoming even more like real mermaids. Soon you won't be able to talk above water at all, or breathe and then.... and then you'll forget."

"Forget what?"

"You'll forget everything that happened before you first went in the moonpool."

Rikki screeched as she heard this.

"And it gets worse, tonight's the Full Moon"


	5. Pure Magic

"But if we can't stay above water... and we need to stay in water... we're definetly moonstruck"

"What's moonstruck?" Elliot asked.

Lewis just shook his head in response

"Maybe it won't affect you now you're full mermaids... but either way, we're gonna have to keep you locked in somewhere - after all, who knows what will happen if you get out"

"Hmm... maybe Elliot was right about staying in the bath!" joked Emma, but really she was serious.

Zane didn't say anything but just looked at Rikki, a look of sorrow in his eyes.

Suddenly, Emma collapsed on the pool side and Zane pushed her into the water.

"It's getting worse." whispered Cleo underwater.

As the moon rose, Lewis sat by the pool ( they hadn't figured out a better solution) and watched the girls ready to save them if he needed too. Really though - they _must_ be trapped; they couldn't just walk out - could they? Eventually Emma's head rose above the surface.

"Where am I Lewis?"

"Don't you remember, you're a mermaid and you're in a swimming pool..." Lewis replied sleepily.

"WHAT? Why don't I just dry off and get out?"

Lewis realised that she had actually forgotten how she got there; this was going to be awkward.

"Because you can't Emma"

"Why?"

"Because you're a mermaid."

"Yeah I know but like not all the time"

At this Lewis pretended to bang his head off the poolside.

"Emma, you are ALL the time. Just try to get out of the pool"

Emma tried her hardest but couldn't get out the water. "Why do I feel so lightheaded Lewis? You weren't joking were you? OMG it's true"

She burst out in tears but didn't look moonstruck.

Lewis started to feel weird and looked at Emma, who was now floating! He heard her say _The moon will always find a way, Lewis. _He watched in horror as she seemed to vanish from sight as a bright light fillled the air. He knew where she had gone and ran to get his boat to go there, to Mako.


	6. Hatred

When Lewis arrived at Mako he found the moonstruck Emma in the moonpool. Her eyes were so strange and hypnotic.

"Jump in Lewis" she said menacing and his legs moved mechanically, he had no choice. He too was being controlled.

He fell into the pool and came to his senses. He tried desperately to get out but it was too late. The moon was over head. He was being changed.

"Emma!" he moaned, as he pulled himself onto the rock, already knowing inside that it was too late. Terrified, he ducked underwater and swam back to where he had left his boat.

"Perfect," whispered moonstruck Emma.

*

The following morning Emma woke up in the pool, remembering nothing of the previous night. Lewis came back and Emma smiled, her friend still cared about her even though she was a mermaid.

She playfully flicked him with a bit of water, but he just looked stony faced.

"WHAT DID YOU DO THAT FOR EMMA?" he shouted.

"Do what Lewis?"

"Last night."

"Oh... the full moon, what did I do? I hope your ok."

In response he fell into the pool.

"That's what you did." he said, showing his green tail.

"Oh Lewis... I'm so sorry. It wasn't her fault though." Cleo whispered.

"I don't care. She could have done anything. Anything else. And this had to happen.

_I hate her!_"

**A.N Sorry for the small chapter, but hope you like it.**


	7. Changed

Lewis knew that Emma had a lot on her mind.  
"Sorry Emma, it's just..." She smiled and nodded. Lewis shrugged and smiled back. "Doesn't matter, I'll just have to cope then won't I"  
Emma sighed.

"Lewis, I'm sick of staying in the water, I want to be free again"  
"Emma, it's impossible... You can go to the beach,to Mako, but you can't leave the water..."  
"Well Lewis, you're wrong. For once you're wrong. I'm going to get out of here soon. I promise you"

Lewis stayed silent, and decided not to tell her how wrong she must be. He sat there, his new tail in the water and sighed. Soon he had fallen alseep.  
Emma looked around and prepared herself. She knew that she wouldn't be able to do this. She knew that she would faint. But that wouldn't stop her. She grabbed the rock on the side of the pool and yanked herself up.

Just being out of the water for a second, she felt slightly dizzy. Blushing, she realised that walking was impossible. She grabbed a glass that was lying on the poolside and filled it with drank it but didn't feel any better.  
She raised her fingers to her neck and realised that she had gills. She sighed and put the glass on the side of her neck. Instantly she felt better. She smiled as she realised she had found a way to stay out of the water, not for long - but for a few minutes.  
She crawled across the pavement and managed to get inside her house.

Seeing the living room in front of her, she crawled toward it. When she saw the sofa, she pulled herself onto it, exhausted. She smiled then, looking around at the home she hadn't seen in nearly a year. "Home sweet home" she croaked.  
The dizziness returned and she looked around the room trying to find a water source, spotting a vase of water she picked it up and raised it to her neck.

Hearing a crash she looked up to see Elliot staring open mouthed at her.  
"Elliot!" she whispered.  
"Sis, you managed to... but you're still a.. a ... m...e....r."  
"Yeah I am. I don't want to stay in the water though. I don't want to" she burst into tears.  
Elliot winced and looked at his sister. He didn't know what to say. "Emma, how did all this happen? How did you become like this?"  
"There's a pool at Mako Island...."  
"How long have you been like this?"

Emma just shook her head and stood up, on her tail. She walked shakily to the pool and collapsed in the water.  
Lewis woke up and stared at her. "Emma, I've got an idea of how we could fix this. You can't be human, but maybe your family can be merpeople"  
Elliot heard this and got an idea, which would change their lives forever. 


	8. Bubbling Springs

**A/N Thanks for all the feedback. To my dedicated reviewers, MermaidRaven and Storm Warning - thanks! **

**Kaaate - Yeah you were close :) **

**Fictionlover94- Yep, Lewis is a merman, this will be important in future chapters... including this one.**

**Janny108- I'll try my best to finish this. **

**:)**

Elliot remembered what his sister had said, there was a pool at Mako that somehow turned people into merpeople! He knew he shouldn't, but he couldn't help wanting to go there because if he did, then his sister wouldn't be ran down to the dock, and scanned the pier. Eventually he spotted it.

"Mako Tours, $15. Return Boat Trip Included"

Elliot sighed and handed over the money as he steppd on board.

*

Emma sighed and looked at Lewis, who was still staring at her.

"Emma, how did you get out of the pool?"

Emma just shrugged. "I tried, and I managed. The End."

Lewis rolled his eyes as Emma slid back into the pool.

"Hey Lewis, you know what you were saying about my family becoming merpeople, that wouldn't be fair on them..."

"Yeah, but they could get out of the water and walk and that.... they wouldn't be trapped as merpeople"

"Hmm.... speaking of family, where the hell is Elliot? Do you think he could have went to Mako?"

Lewis gasped and nodded slightly. "Yeah he could have. I think we should just leave him - it's not a full moon."

Emma frowned. "It wasn't a full moon when I became a full mermaid was it?"

Lewis shook his head and ran off towards the dock.

He gulped looking at the water, and stepped into his boat.

There was water everywhere and he had to be careful not to get wet.

He set off for Mako, but when halfway he turned into a merman, because a tiny drop of water touched him, he didn't know what to do.

Sighing, he jumped into the water and swam for Mako.

At first, he had trouble, but eventually he managed to swim through the underwater tunnel, and hid in the entrance. He looked in the pool and saw Elliot dipping his toe in the water.

"Don't Elliot!"

Elliot, who couldn't see the underwater figure, didn't let this deter him. He jumped into the pool.

Lewis tried to push him out of the pool but he refused to budge.

Suddenly, the water started to bubble.

Lewis swam out of the pool but Elliot remained there.

It wasn't a full moon - so would he become a merman?


	9. Like You

Lewis kept on shouting for Elliot to leave the pool but he just wouldn't move. When the magic seemed to stop flowing through the moon pool, Lewis swam back into the pool and started to shout Elliot, who was too shaken to realise that Lewis was a merman!

"Elliot! Why are you here?"

Elliot just shrugged but Lewis knew the truth. "Elliot..." he warned.

Elliot blinked and stared at the wall. "You know why. My sister, I miss her."

Lewis sighed. "In future, I wouldn't come to Mako... in fact it's too late for probably have already turned into part- merman." "Congratulations" he muttered.

All of a sudden Elliot seemed to snap out of his dream. "Lewis, you're a merman!" Elliot backed into the wall, now a little worried. "Are you all the time?" he asked.

Lewis shook his head and Elliot smiled- even if he was a merman then it wouldn't be all the time.

Elliot swam up the secret entrance and was met by Lewis with the boat.

"Right Elliot, just drive this to the dock and lock it up. Keep the key. I'll meet you at the dock in an hour."

Elliot nodded and set off in the boat, while Lewis swam to shore.

They met at the dock once Lewis had dried off.

"Elliot do you still want to be a merperson?"

"Yes."

*

Lewis went home for the night and woke up in the morning with a dillema.

It was raining, and he had to get to school.

He could just stay off school but when Emma,Cleo and Rikki had done that it hadn't went well...

He grabbed an umbrella out of the cupboard and ran outside.

When he was almost at the school he bumped into a girl who fell over in the rain.

"Sorry!" he shouted but didn't help her up - he would get wet.

She seemed to have an angry expression on her face, as if she was scared of the water...


	10. New Kid

The girl grumbled and tried to get Lewis to go away and rubbed frantically at her leg, as if the water was burning her.

It dawned on Lewis what she was and he gasped.

"Go away!" shouted the girl, who was now running away. She had only got a few metres when she fell over and transformed.

Lewis walked after her, still holding up the umbrella. When the girl had dried off using her powers, she looked up at him.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"Hi, I'm Lewis, you?"

"Bella. Did you see me after I fell, like a minute ago?" she asked, confused.

"Yeah."

"So why aren't you screaming because I'm a mermaid?"

"Cos."

"Look please tell me why."

"Because I am like you."

The girl smiled then. "How?"

"The pool at Mako Island."

"Same here."

"How long ago for you?" Lewis asked.

"I... I don't remember. I have been like this as long as I can remember. And you?"

"A few days."

The girl smiled and started walking down the road, making sure to keep ahold of her umbrella.

Lewis followed and they walked into school.

"It's my first day today" Bella said.

"Good luck."

*

On the other side of town, Elliot was sitting in the house staring at his _tail. _He knew he shouldn't have been to Mako!

He sighed and looked out the window at his sister sitting in the swimming pool.

He was lucky.

**AN More soon.**


	11. Siren

Cleo looked around the tiny expanses of the pool and groaned.  
"I can't do this" she growled. She surfaced and looked around at the grass around the pool.  
She lifted herself out of the pool and stared at the grass around her. Feeling dizzy she looked around. She was out of the water, and that alone made her happy.  
Suddenly, feeling weaker, than she had ever felt in her life, she fell back into the pool. Groggily, she looked up at the sky to see the full moon. It had risen early. "Lewis!" she screamed and he came running.  
"Why am I in this swimming pool?"  
Lewis looked up at the moon and understood. The same thing had happened to Emma last full moon.  
He explained to Cleo and just sat there.  
Cleo suddenly had an idea. If she was trapped in the water, then everyone else should be! Right? Well - really it was just because she was moonstruck.  
She started to sing a siren song, and people began to get boats and swim to Mako, drawn there by her song.  
"Go to Mako and everything will be fine tonight Look up into the moonlight"  
AN Sorry for the short update and amount of time in between updates.  
:) 


End file.
